The Trump-Kim Summit:The World Watches Anxiously with the Hope of Denuclearization

Yesterday at Singapore the most anticipated summit took place between the US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It is reported that the North Korean dictator showed some assurance of giving up nuclear weapons.

The Trump-Kim summit; a first-ever such meeting held between these two countries ended with an one paged agreement. For the sake of world peace and disarmament Trump hinted that he would suspend the military exercises with North Korea.

The US president also mentioned these ‘war games’ as ‘provocative’ and said he wants the troops to return to the US soil soon, though he failed to provide a timeline for the same. This encouraged Kim to sign a joint statement agreeing to denuclearization. Though there is much scepticism regarding the vagueness of this statement as it has been done before decades ago.

After four hours of discussion, Trump quoted- “Yesterday’s conflict doesn’t have to be tomorrow’s war”. He also hinted about both the nations working together in the future. The US president also said that he would be inviting the Korean president to the US soon and the latter has already accepted the same.

Though one of the major talking points of the summit was “would Trump consider speaking about the appalling Human Rights records of North Korea”.Trump said he did bring it up during the discussion but did not say what the response from the other side was.

Before signing the joint statement both the leaders had a working lunch and held a bilateral morning meeting at the Capella. The summit was a great breakthrough in the world political scenario, as these two men were not at all fond of each other and occasionally launched threats.

The US President looked confident speaking about how Kim agreed with him in destroying a missile engine testing site. Though there are lots of disbelief in the commitments of Kim, Trump insisted that they would work together to attain peace and both the Governments will soon start working together for the same.

Trump was accompanied by the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his White House chief of staff John Kelly and national security adviser John Bolton. Pompeo played a crucial role in communicating terms between White House and Pyongyang. According to White House, the US president and his staffwere well prepared for this meeting.

The Trump administration focused on mentioning complete and verifiable denuclearization,but experts say it would take the North Koreans years to achieve the same.Though Trump described their agreement as “very comprehensive”, it is not entirely different from what Kim made with the South Korean president, Moon Jae in April.

Also, the statement is quite ambiguous, as it doesn’t specifically mention the terms of denuclearization. Hence, the North Korean interpretation of the same differs a lot from Washington’s view. Only the withdrawal of US troops at the South and the NorthKorean border is inevitable at this moment.

After the end of this most talked meeting, it is difficult to say which party gained the most. Post talks Trump left for the US from the Singapore PayaLebar Airbase and is expected to make brief stops in Guam and Hawaii.